Sermon Central
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The Simplicity Of Salvation And Assurance Series
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Jun 8, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Acts Series: If your child was lost and you could get a message to him, would you make it complicated or simple? [The Meaning, The Man and The Method of Salvation.]
The Simplicity of Salvation
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Question: If you had a child that was lost, and if you had the chance to get a message to that child, telling them what to do, and how to get home…would you make that message simple or complicated?
(simple! So it is w/ our souls’ salvation)
A couple of years ago my wife had the frightening experience of not knowing where Jacob was. She called out for him, and looked around, because he liked to hide. But then she saw it: the front door open and the screen door cracked! She can tell you about the panic she experienced as she ran out that door, extremely pregnant w/ twins, and began to search the neighborhood for the little guy. What a relief when she saw him down the street… “hi mommy!”
Several cases of child abductions involving young girls have been in the news in recent weeks.
3 weeks ago a 7-year-old girl, Erica Pratt, abducted from out front of her home, later escaped from an abandoned rowhouse in Philadelphia. The same week a man was charged with kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Stanton, Calif.
This follows the high-profile kidnappings of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City and of two San Diego children, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam and 2-year-old Jahi Turner. Elizabeth and Jahi remain missing; Danielle was slain.
2 weeks ago 6 year old Cassandra Williamson was abducted from her own home in St. Louis while eating breakfast…her body was found later that day.
And just 3 days ago, a couple of teenage girls in California were abducted at gunpoint…
In Acts 16, a man asked, “What must I do to be saved?”
I’m happy to report that God has made it simple.
Is. 35:8 (speaking of the King’s highway [to heaven])
the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
This means a stranger w/out good sense can find his way on the gospel road.
Salvation is so simple and plain…that often times the intellectual giants stumble over it, while little children have no trouble.
Jesus said in Mt. 11:25
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Our God does not put a premium on ignorance…nor a penalty on intelligence. But He does indeed stress the simplicity of salvation! God wants people to be saved!
I Pet. 3:9 “God is not willing that any should perish…”
God is not playing keep-away w/ salvation. He wants you to be saved even more than you do. (He went a million miles to make it happen…only 1 step short!)
So, what must I do to be saved?
First of all, we have a misunderstanding of the term “saved.”
What does it mean to be saved?
Gk= sodzo: means, “to be delivered.”
But, delivered from what?
What was this Philipian jailer wanting to be saved from?
Some say, the earthquake (no, it’s over)
Some say, saved from his superiors who would kill him since the prisoners escaped. (no, the prisoners didn’t get away)
He said, what must I do to be saved…well, saved from what? Delivered from what?
We give the invitation at the end of the message, and invite lost people to be saved…from what?
The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved…from what?
Let’s allow an angel to answer the question…
When an angel announced the birth of Christ to Joseph and Mary, he said,
thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
To be saved is to be saved from sin!
People don’t like that word, sin, anymore! They find it offensive.
Remember when drunkenness was a sin…now “disease”
Pregnancy out of wedlock/mistake, accident
Children rebelling vs. parents/maladjusted
(see me after the service and I’ll show you where the adjuster is located!)
shacking up/cohabitation
abortion/freedom of choice
homosexuality/alternate lifestyle
gossip/prayer request
Willie Nelson, before IRS caught him, when still had money, built his own golf course on his own land.
Someone asked him about “par” (explain)
They asked what par was on his course.
He said, it’s my golf course, par is what I want it to be. He pointed at the first hole, “that’s a par 47, yesterday I birdied it”.
That’s how a lot of people approach sin these days, they think they can just define it for themselves…nevermind what God says about it…they “feel” it’s ok!
It’s secular humanism…and no matter what evil happens, from OK City to Columbine from the twin towers to anthrax, from suicide bombings to the recent child abductions, whenever evil happens, the talking heads are all over the TV saying, these people aren’t wicked, they’re just sick…they’re not evil, they’re just sick…
